Horseshoe.



No. 866,008. PATEN'TBD SEPT. 17, 1907.

w. 1-". DOWNEY.

HORSBSHOE.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.21. 1906.

Q/vi tn eases J v UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE. I

HORSE SHOE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Application filed December 21, 1906. Serial No. 348,932.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that '1, WILLIAM F. DOWNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District-of Columbia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Horseshoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to removable-calk horseshoes; and it contemplates the provision of a simple and practical horseshoe embodying such a construction that there is no liability of the calks being casually displaced from the shoe body while the shoe is in use, and yet when it is desired to remove any one of the calks because of wear or for any other reason, the same may be expeditiously and easily accomplished while the shoe is on a horses hoof and without the employment of skilled labor, and a new calk may be as readily placed and secured in the shoe body.

With the foregoing in mind, the invention will be fully understood from the following description and claim when the same are read in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the upper side of a horseshoe provided with removable calks in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail front elevation showing a portion of the shoe body and the toe calk secured therein. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view illustrating said portion of the shoe body, the upper end of the toe calk and the fastening pin. Fig 4 is a perspective view showing the toe calk as the. same appears when removed from the shoe body. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the heel calks removed.

Fig. 6 is a plan view illustrating one heel portion of the.

shoe, the upper end of one heel calk, and the fastening pin therefor. Fig. 7 is a detail side elevation of the same. Fig. 8 is a view of one of the fastening pins, removed. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view illustrating a duplex toe calk'i. e., a toe calk comprising two members either of which may be removed independent of the other when necessity demands to give place to a new member.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 8 thereof: A is the body of my novel horseshoe, which may be and preferably is of the conventional size, shape and weight. The said body A is preferably, though not essentially, equipped with upturned lips A for receiving between them the hoof of a horse; and in its forward portion the body is provided with a vertical socket a and in its end portions with vertical sockets b, all of the said sockets extending from the underside of the body to the upper side thereof, and each having all of its four walls inclined upward and inward so that it is tapered or gradually reduced in cross-sectional size toward its upper end, for an important purpose hereinafter set forth. In the upper side of the body A and over each of the sockets described is dropped or otherwise formed a groove or channel B which communicates with the upper portion of the socket and extends from-the inner edge of the body A to the outer edge thereof, as illustrated.

O is the toe calk of the shoe, and D D are the heel calks, each of which has its upper or shank portion" tapered in conformity with and of. a size to snugly occupy its complementary socket in the body A. From this it follows that every time the horse puts his foot to the ground the upper or shank portions of the calks are wedged in their sockets so that there is little or no liability of any calk working loose or becoming casually displaced during the use of the shoe. Moreover it will be apparent that this wedging of the upper or shank portions of the calks in their sockets takes all strain and pressure off the fastening pins, presently described; and consequently said fastening pins'are not likely to be broken, bent or otherwise impaired incident to the practical use of-the shoe. The lower portions of the calks i. 6., the portions below'the upwardly tapered shanks, are preferably of the shape illustrated, though I would have it understood that said lower portions may be of any other shape approved by the manufacturer and user of the shoe without involving departure from the scope of my invention. In the upper or shank portions of the toe calk C and the heel calks D apertures E are provided, which apertures are so positioned that they will register with the grooves or channels B when the upper or shank portions of the calks are properly placed-in their sockets.

F is a tapered fastening pin, preferably a tapered nail, for use in combination with the toe calk G, and G G are tapered fastening pins, preferably tapered nails, one of which is employed in connection with each heel calk D. These pins or nails are respectively driven through a groove or channel B and an aperture E in the upper or shank portion of a calk, and in the preferred practice of the invention each pin or nail is driven from a point within the shoe body A outward, as illustrated. The portions of the pins or nails exposed at the outer edge of the shoe body are clenched against said edge, and in this way the pins or nails are securely fastened against casual displacement. By virtue of the pins or nails being tapered toward their outer ends as shown particularly in Fig. 8, it will be apparent that when the calks are loosened by wear or otherwise, the pins or nails may be driven outward through the grooves or channels of the body A and the apertures in the calk shanks so as to take up said Wear and render the calks tight in the body, and the outer portions of said pins or shanks may then be again clenched against the outer edge of the body to preclude casual movement or displacement of the pins or nails. To adapt the calks to be wedged in their sockets when a horse puts its foot to the ground, as well as to permit of the calks being rendered tight in the sockets by drivingthe pins to a greater extent through the grooves or channels of the body A, it is essential, as will be readily apparent, for the upwardly tapering sections of the shanks of the calks to extend below the under side of the said body A. When any one of the calks is worn to such an extent as to render it useless,the outer portion of its respective pin or nail is straightened, and said pin or nail is pulled from the body A and the calk, and the said calk is then withdrawn from its socket. With this done a new calk may be positioned in the said socket and fastened through the medium of a pin or nail in the manner before set forth in detail.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that'by virtue of the construction illustrated and described, a calk may be readily unfastened and removed from the shoe body A and a new calk may be placed in and fastened to the shoe body without the necessity of removing the said body from the horses hoof and without resorting to the employment of skilled labor. Thus in an emergency, a person working a number of horses may with the aid of his usual stable help, expeditiously and easily remove smooth calks from the shoe body and replace the same with sharp calks such as are calculated to enable a horse to secure a good foothold on streets covered with ice or otherwise rendered slippery. It willfurther be gathered from the foregoing that my improvements do not render a shoe unsightly, and that the improved shoe is calculated to last quite as long under hard usage as the ordinary shoe. This latter is due in large measure to the fact that the pin-receiving grooves or channels B dropped or otherwise formed in the upper side of the body A do not appreciably weaken the shoe body. Moreover it will be apparent in this connection that the grooves or channels B are susceptible of being easily formed at the time that the body A is manufactured, and this without appreciably increasing the cost of production, which is an important desideratum.

In the modified construction shown in Fig. 9, spaced duplex calks O are fastened by tapered pins F in sockets 0/ provided in the shoe body A in the same manner that the toe calk O is fastened in the shoe body A. When said duplex toe calks are employed, a single upturned lip A is provided on the shoe body A the said upturned lip A being arranged at the foremost point of the shoe so as to rest directly in front of the hoof of a horse.

It will be noted from the foregoing that the calks of my improvements may be made of a good quality of steel, while the body of the shoe may be made of iron or other inferior material, this latter because the body is subjected to little or no wear.

By virtue of the construction of my novel shoe, smooth calks may be expeditiously and easily substituted for the sharp calks illustrated and vice versa; and it will be apparent that the calks at all times protect the body of the shoe against wear, and that by reason of the taper of the fastening pins the said pins are adapted to be readily displaced from the shoe body when it is desired to remove the calks and replace the same with other calks.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

The combination in a horse shoe, of a body having an upwardly tapered socket extending from its under side to its upper side and also having a groove or channel in said upper side extending from its inner edge to its outer edge and communicating with the socket, a removable calk having an upwardly tapering upper or shank portion snugly fitting in the tapered socket of the body and arranged with its upwardly tapering section extending below the under side of said body and also having an aperture in said tapered shank portion arranged to communicate with the groove or channel in the upper side of the body, and a tapered fastening pin extending through the groove or channel in the body and the aperture in the shank portion of the calk, whereby the parts are drawn together. i

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM I DOWNEY.

Witnesses JAMES J. Srrnnrn', .Tr., N. C. HEALY. 

